Daughter of Darkness
by Ellaspen Frost
Summary: They fought against evils for centuries but what if what they'd been fighting was something they should have been protecting? A child, different from other children, was born into darkness with similar, more dangerous powers than Pitch could ever dream. Will they be able look at her as they do other children or will she turn to Pitch for comfort against the hate of the world?
1. Chapter 1

**Author's note: Hey, so a random thought popped in my head. What if the thing that the Guardians fought each day, wound up being the very thing they need to protect? Don't understand, then read to find out. XD**

 **DISCLAIMER: I do not own Rise of the Guardians. I wish I did though. I DO however own my OCs. Please do not steal her or any others that randomly pop up.**

 **Chapter one: Forgotten**

 _ **Prologue…**_

The small girl stared out into the open field of blood that was once her home.

 _Darkness_.

That was all there was. That was all _she_ was. A forgotten shadow in the middle of the world, alone, unseen, neglected.

She didn't mind, however. If nobody cared, then nobody cared. It was a hard cold fact that, over the next thousands of years, she would force herself to live with until even she did not care anymore. That isn't how it always had been though.

During a joyous time in the Golden Ages, Manny saw that, while the people were happy, they lacked innocence in their order, and so, two children were born, destined to rule over the kingdom of Santoff Clausen. The eldest was a boy named Phoebus, of fourteen years old, bathed in sunlight and golden powers. He had curly blond hair and a golden tan skin tone. The other, however, was a girl of seven years old named Ebony with long black hair and red eyes and, while not like her brother in the fact that her powers were directly opposite of his, she contained purity in her heart that most adults do not possess. Together they maintained the balance of dark and light, good and evil.

The children ruled equally and happily and, for a time, the kingdom was at peace. However, like all good things, this peace did not last long. A man named Kosmotis Pitchiner, a great general of the Golden Age, was assigned to watch over the dark forces that had been driven into imprisonment. When they found different ways to sustain their power, they grew stronger and eventually broke free. In this unfortunate event, the great general was overrun and fell to the dark side.

Dark desires filled the man's very heart and soul until there was seemingly nothing left but a black void where Kosmotis's heart used to be. This, however, did not kill him but made him more known throughout time for his more sinister name, Pitch Black. He thought that the Nightmares had bent to his will, that they were flawless; that was his first mistake. The darkness desired to bring an eternal Dark Ages where they would feast on the fear of mortals forever but, in order to achieve this, they needed a warrior to direct the Nightmares into battle strategically. The once great father and general of the Golden Age was used as a pawn to bring the days of light to an end.

The people of Santoff Clausen fled with terror as the Dream Pirates and Nightmares flooded the streets and towns, however, as long as one glimmer of hope remained, they would not be successful. That glimmer of hope was the young king and princess of the kingdom. They overcame the guards, or whoever was brave enough to stand their ground, and broke into the palace, searching to find the young rulers, and destroy them.

The royals, who momentarily dwelled in the tower, hid. Phoebus held his sister close as the echoes of war sounded in their ears. She buried her face into his robe as another horrified scream flowed through the air.

"Hey, it's gonna be alright." He whispered but he too was cringing at their people's distress.

She lifted her head up to meet his eyes, tears streaking down her pale face. "It's alright to admit that you're scared too. You wouldn't be human if it wasn't an emotion you had."

He lowered his head, he'd forgotten that his sister could sense fear through the smallest things, such as a heart beat or your tone of voice. "Don't worry about me."

She lowered her head again, allowing him to comfort and protect her like any good older brother would want to, even though she knew that he needed it more than she did. Closing her eyes, she allowed her brother to send her into a blissful sleep as he kept watch.

 **Thirty minutes later…**

Ebony awoke to a harsh pounding on the door of the tower. Her brother was at the side with a dagger, silent as the moon's words, ready to kill the first thing that came through the door. Ebony curled up close, quiet, yet sharp, breaths coming out as she watched the shadow of the creature under the door. Her brother fought to control his heartbeat and keep the fear down but Ebony could faintly smell it. For a moment, it seemed as though the Dream Pirate would leave but then…

 _Knock, Knock, Knock_ …

Phoebus's breath hitched in his throat as the doorknob began to slowly turn. Suddenly, the door creaked open and a shadowy figure stood in the doorway.

In an instant, he snapped out his dagger, aiming for the heart…but the creature of darkness was faster. It caught his wrist mid-swing and twisted it. He cried out, dropping his weapon, and was pushed to the floor.

Ebony watched in horror as the Dream Pirate picked up the weapon and towered over her older brother, who was shaking in fear. It brought the dagger up into a swinging motion and…

"NO!" She screamed in tears.

The dagger came down, right into his chest and he fell to his side. She ran out to him, despite the Dream Pirate still being there, and hugged her brother close, who was now barely hanging on to his life. She sat there, waiting for her demise. If her brother was leaving, she was going with him. She waited ten seconds, then twenty… _nothing_.

She let her gaze ride up to meet the golden eyes of her brother's killer. It stood there, watching her, then slowly turned and left out the door. She stared with confusion until her brother's cough of pain brought her back to reality. She let a tear slip down her cheek and he lifted a hand, brushing the tears away.

"Be…s-tro-ng." He whispered.

 _His echoing fear, what a horrifying sound._

"I c-can't!" She cried. "You can't leave me!"

"Shhh, It'll b-be…ok-okay." He reassured but his breaths were getting more labored.

 _His dying fear, what a horrifying sound._

"I-I don't w-want to be al-lone!" She started to hiccup.

He let out a shaky smile. "You're ne-ver a-alone…" "I l-love y-you…" He said in a whisper, closing his eyes, peace settling over himself but Ebony did not notice.

She started sobbing. "I l-love you too."

 _No response_.

She shook her brother lightly but the sense of fear he once had was gone. She let out a shaky breath and hugged her brother's body close.

 _The silence, what a horrifying sound._


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter two: Just like any other day…right?**

 **Thousands of years later…**

The sun shone brightly that morning, causing the freshly fallen powder to sparkle in its rays and a teenager sat against one of the top most branches of an oak tree growing next to a small frozen pond. The rising sun shined through the leaves, over his eyes and he lightly opened them, pupils dilating at the sudden light. The scenery was quiet and peaceful, temping him to go back to sleep but the idea was abandoned when the sound of children laughing began to echo in the air. Jack smiled, sitting up and grabbing his staff which was hanging on another branch just above him, and jumped to the ground, wind slowing his decent. He knew that laughter, it was definitely Jamie and Sophie, out to have an early snowball fight since it was Christmas break.

Flying out into the neighborhood, he searched for his favorite believer and sure enough, Jamie and Sophie both were playing in the snow, although Sophie's version of playing in the snow was really just falling face first into it. Jamie immediately looked up and saw him, smiling and waving.

"Jack!"

"Hey kiddo, out to get all the snow before your friends?" He teased.

Sophie lifted her head out of the snow upon hearing Jack's voice, pushed herself up, and tackled him into a hug.

"Whoa, hey Soph! What are ya trying to do? Knock me over?"

She giggled but then began to search around him for her desired company and looked up into his eyes, looking a little sad. "Bunny?"

"Sorry Soph, no Bunny." He said, feeling a bit of sympathy for her. Ever since that day when she found her way to the Warren, she and Bunny had a special little connection and, for some reason, she seemed to think that every time Jack was around, Bunny would be too.

Her eyes began to water and he immediately flicked one of his 'fun flakes' at her nose. She seemed to try to stay upset and remember that Bunnymund wasn't there but after a few moments she gave in and began to giggle uncontrollably. She ran up, tackling Jamie through a snowman he'd been creating and they both began to laugh.

' _Well, job well done if I do say so myself_.' He thought smiling.

"Hey, how long are you gonna be able to spend time with us this year?" Jamie asked, brushing the snow off himself.

"Most of winter but I also have to travel other places occasionally. Why?"

Jamie looked down, letting out a hopeful breath. "I wanted to know if you would maybe come to Christmas dinner with me?"

For a moment, Jack just stood there, speechless. It was really sweet that Jamie wanted him to spend Christmas with him. He let out a smile and for a moment he was actually about to accept the offer but then he frowned, realizing that Jamie and Sophie would be the only ones to see him and it wouldn't be fair if he interrupted their time with their family on the most memorable time of year. He let out a sigh, about to say just that to Jamie but by the disappointed look on the child's face, he could tell Jamie had already gotten the hint.

"Sorry, I would but…" He started.

"No, its fine. I should've thought first before I asked."

"I just don't want to take away your time with your family." He said, an apologetic look on his face.

Jamie stared at him. Did he say something wrong?

"But… _you're_ family." Jamie spoke softly.

Jack stood there, shocked. Jamie actually considered him _family_?

"I…I'm not related to you." He said, even though he knew very well that's not what the kid meant.

"Well, you aren't related to me but…I've always thought of you as a big brother to me." Jamie clarified, looking down to hide the blush creeping onto his face.

There was something about Jamie that reminded him so much of his sister. He even looked a little like her. After a moment, he smiled. "Well, I guess I could try to come."

A hopeful gleam spread in Jamie's eyes. "Really?!"

"Yeah." He got a mischievous look. "Just don't be surprised if a snowball hits poeple out of nowhere."

Jamie smiled wider than the day they'd had the sled incident. "Awesome!"

An irritated voice called from their house. "Jamie Bennet! You and your sister get back in here till you've had breakfast!"

Jamie let out a groan.

"Don't worry, your mom did the same thing when she was your age." He said, laughing.

Jamie pulled his sister from the snow and walked across the street to his house. Once they were out of sight, Jack jumped into the air, smiling at the idea of having a little brother. It had taken some time to see it but he always felt like an older brother again when he was around Jamie.

He settled on a branch, thinking about how great a start to his morning this was. The sun was still climbing through the sky but was probably close to noon now. The snow began to fall around the woodsy area, in little flurries.

He leaned his head back against the branch, wondering what was going to happen when his favorite believer stopped believing. As much as Jamie protested before that such a thing would never happen, there was no way to stop time. It was only then that his sight focused in on the sky, which was emitting several bright colors. He narrowed his eyes and sat up; they have annual meetings but the only time the Northern Lights were sent out was when there was an emergency and the last time there was an emergency, it was because Pitch had struck. This was the first time since he'd been a Guardian that he had been called by the Northern Lights.

Shooting into the air, the wind carried him to the North Pole as fast as possible. Under normal circumstances he would be fashionably late just to irritate Bunny but with it being an emergency, he wasn't going to delay them for this one.

If he'd have just looked back for just a few moments, he might have noticed the shadowy figures emerging from the trees, watching him go but one figure stood out from the rest. A small girl.

The jolly man, for once, was not so jolly. Instead, he looked very concerned, stroking his beard thoughtfully. In fact, he'd been like this for a couple of hours before even calling his comrades with the Aurora Borealis. There were several elves crowding around, both concerned and curious what was making their leader so worried and, though they did not leave their work stations, the yetis were beginning to glance over from time to time with concern.

North was too deep in thought to realize when one of his old friends flew in, riding a golden plane made of sand. Sandy hopped from his seat and floated gracefully to the ground, a question mark appearing over his head. When he saw the Guardian of Wonder's deep concentration and lack of the welcoming greeting he normally received, he knew that something was wrong. North hadn't even noticed him coming into the room. Sandy silently floated over and rested a hand on his shoulder. He jumped slightly at the sudden contact and turned his head.

"Oh, sorry. I did not see you come in." He said.

The little golden man put a question mark above his head, then an arrow and pointed it at North.

"Ah, sorry Sandy. I'm fine but there is something I would like to show you first before the others get here." He said, gesturing Sandy to follow him.

They walked down a few long corridors, taking so many twists and turns that it was a wonder how the guy ever found his way back. After a while of walking, North finally stopped in front of a huge archway and door lined with gold and sliver, with twisting oak wood carvings and engraved on the front of the door was the symbol of a terrifying shadow burnt into it.. It was, to say the very least, special in the sense that the room behind the door probably contained something very important…or _dangerous_.

"Room has been closed thousands of years before I was ever even born into immortality. Locked, and, under instructions from many higher immortals, including Tsar Lunar, It has not been opened… _until now_." He spoke with dark eyes staring at the door.

After a moment of hesitation, he turned the golden handle and pushed the door open. Sandy stepped inside, taking a moment to take in his surroundings. It was _creepy_. The walls appeared to have been burnt or charred at some point and were falling to pieces, with cracks climbing them from floor to top. A mirror that had once been visibly present was shattered to pieces and laying all over the floor, which was stained with a suspicious red substance.

Standing there a few moments, Sanderson shrugged as if to say 'Ok, it's a little disturbing but what's the big deal?'. North stared him straight in the face and pointed up.

Sandy's eyes went wide as he glanced at the ceiling. The red substance, which he easily now identified as _blood_ , was smeared across the ceiling in swirls and lines to form a specific pattern. The ancient language of the moon people who had long since perished, with the exception of Manny, was smeared all over the ceiling in delicate letters. North and Sandy were the only people that were immortal long enough to have learned the language that had been long since forgotten by most of the world. After a few moments he let a rare audible gasp and began to decipher it slowly.

' _A lesson, if not all of you learn,_

 _In darkness the world will soon turn._

 _Though you give wonder, hope, dreams, memories, fun, and protect,_

 _A child, for thousands of years, you neglect._

 _One thing cannot change, we all have a dark side,_

 _Learn to love hers, or in black she'll reside._

 _Look past your differences and avoid the shadows in her wake,_

 _To not love your enemy would be a terrible mistake.'_

The three Guardians stood in the globe room, confused. They'd been waiting in there for at least an hour and when the yetis tried to tell them where the two were, all they got were a bunch of confused looks since North was the only one to understand their language. Bunny, as usual, stood by the fireplace warming himself as best he could. Tooth rapidly instructed her mini fairies where they were to go gather teeth and place coins, though she would, occasionally, look up and around to see if North or Sandy had come into the room yet. Jack, being the mischievous person that he is, randomly sent cold breezes at Bunnymund to annoy him and froze the poor unsuspecting elves who came around the corner.

Bunny was rubbing his paws together as close to the fireplace as he could get them without catching fire when another cold familiar breeze hit him, causing visible shivers to run up his spine in cold discomfort. He shook, shoving himself closer to the fireplace and turned back to stare at his constant attacker who was casually leaning against the wall, whistling a suspicious tune.

"Frostbite!"

Jack turned with a smirk. "Oh, hello Bugs Bunny, What do you need?"

Bunny glared. "Stop sending cold wind at me!"

"Why the yelling? I thought we were friends?" He said dramatically in mock sadness, placing a hand over his heart.

Bunnymund snorted, turning back to the fireplace. "Try to be responsible for once."

"Hey! I was here on time!" He protested. "Besides, I didn't really expect that the one day I wasn't late would the day that the two eldest Guardians wouldn't show up. Especially when one of them is the one who summoned us in the first place."

"Well, for once I have to agree with you Frostbite. I didn't see it coming either." Bunny said, rubbing his half frozen ears.

"It's really unnatural of them, do you think one of us should go looki-" Tooth started but was cut short when the two missing members came in.

The Guardians of hope, memories, and fun turned their attention to the oddly quiet and worried looking North and Sandman. They stared for a moment at their solemn expressions and uncharacteristic behavior. Even Jack, who just a moment before was about to freeze his next unsuspecting victim, had stopped to stare at his two fellow Guardians with concern. The elf, grateful for the distraction, ran from his frozen doom and scurried up to North, lightly tugging his pants as if to ask 'what is wrong?'. North didn't answer.

Bunny's, Jack's, and Tooth's eyes followed Sanderson and North slowly as they both walked across the room and sat in two of the five chairs that the yetis had set up while they were gone. The rest of the group cast nervous and concerned glances at each other before heading towards their own chairs.

There was a long moment of silence.

"So…want to…tell us why we're here?" Tooth finally spoke up.

North, for the first time since he'd entered the room, lifted his head to meet his three fellow Guardian's eyes.

"We…have _failed_ a child."

 **Author's note: Hey! Hope you like this new story I've started! Let me know in the comments what you think and I'll try to update as often as my stubborn beta will allow !lol!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter three: We have failed a child**

 **In the previous chapter…**

" _ **So…want to…tell us why we're here?" Tooth finally spoke up.**_

 _ **North, for the first time since he'd entered the room, looked up to meet his three fellow Guardian's eyes.**_

" _ **We…have failed a child."**_

There was a horribly tense silence between the five protectors. They… _failed_ a _child_? Since when? They were all lost in thoughts now with questions running a million miles in their heads. What did they do wrong? How did they fail? Which child?! After a moment they exchanged concerned glances between each other, aware of the seriousness of the situation. It was their job to protect all the children of the world, good and bad, as long as they believe.

"H-How… _Who_?" Tooth stuttered, unsure of what to say.

North handed a photo that he and Sandy had taken, so that the others would not have to experience the horror of seeing the blood covered ceiling in person, over to Tooth. Her eyes widened, although she didn't understand the language written on the wall, she knew what it was written with. She looked like she was going to be sick and quickly handed it across to Bunnymund who had a similar reaction. His ears flattened, obviously having no desire to see the photo anymore and attempted to pass it to Jack. Tooth reached out, blocking the photo with a stern look.

"I don't think he's old enough to see that." She said in a motherly tone.

Jack raised an eyebrow at this, clearly offended at being referred to as a child. "I may be in the body of a teenager but you seem to forget that I'm over three hundred years old."

Tooth narrowed her eyes. "You still have the mentality of a kid and-"

"Tooth, he's a Guardian. He gets just as much access to this as we do." Bunny quickly interrupted.

Jack turned to Bunny, surprised that he was actually standing up for him and acknowledging him as a Guardian. Tooth, equally as surprised that someone told off her motherly instincts, mumbled and backed down, allowing Bunny to hand the photo to Jack.

He stared at it for a moment, the Guardians waiting for his horrified expression to emerge. Instead he stared at it blankly before handing back to North. "Ok, and?"

Everyone was pretty much shell shocked by the Guardian of fun's response to the photo except Sandy and North. Sandy was often out in the world to see it change himself and North, who often got requests for some pretty mature things for Christmas, knew that both older kids and teenagers were fairly desensitized when it came to gore or scary things.

"AND?!" Tooth practically screeched. "What do you mean ' _and_ '?!"

Jack leaned away from her fury. "What's the big deal? What is it?"

"IT'S BLOOD!"

He rolled his eyes. "I know it's blood, I'm not stupid. I'm talking about what's written in it."

Bunny and Tooth stared blankly at the youngest Guardian.

"Mate, are you feeling alright?"

Jack face palmed. "It's just blood! If I cared about the blood, I would be asking whose blood it was but I don't so I just want to know what it says. If a little blood scares you, then you'd be horrified to know the violent video games kids play today."

Tooth looked like she was about to protest to his desensitized idea of what's important and what isn't but she suddenly stopped in thought.

"North, what _does_ it say?" She asked, turning her attention to the photo in his hands.

North sighed. "It said "A lesson, if not all of you learn, in darkness the world will soon turn." "Though you give wonder, hopes, dreams, memories, fun, and protect, a child, for thousands of years, you neglect."

All the Guardians cringed a little at that last part.

"One thing cannot change, we all have a dark side. Learn to love hers, or in black she'll reside." He continued. "Look past your differences and avoid the shadows in her wake…To not love your enemy, would be a terrible mistake." He finished.

Everyone was wide eyed at the interpretation.

"It is the ancient language of the moon people. There is only one left that we know of; Manny."

"Wait." Jack interrupted. "So he's asking us to _love_ our _enemy_?"

"I don't think he's talking about Pitch mate, he was referring to a female." Bunny assured and Jack let out a silent sigh of relief.

North rose out of his chair. "Is very serious! I don't know what he was talking about with all the darkness stuff but I do know that there is a child somewhere out there that we have failed! We need to find her and make it up to her!" He declared.

"Whoa, whoa, mate! We know every child in history! Wouldn't she have come up on your naughty and nice list or with Sandy's dreams? What are the chances that out of billions of kids that we protect each day, we'd forget _one_? Much less _neglect_ her?"

Sandy waved a flag, getting his attention. He showed a little girl and then a sun and moon rapidly rising and setting. North backed up his statement.

"Sandy is right! Riddle says we neglected girl for centuries so the only logical explanation is she must be immortal. There has never been an immortal child before so I never made the lists to show them specifically."

Jack, unnoticeably slumped down at the very untrue statement.

"Well, even if there is an immortal child, one of us would have at least seen or heard of her _once_ over _thousands_ of years." Bunnymund argued.

"Well, what makes you so sure cotton tail? None of you even knew _I_ existed till I created the blizzard of '68' and I'd been trying to get your attention for _years_. If it takes that long for me to get your attention when I'm trying, think of how long it would take to get your attention for someone who's _not_ trying or even more, _hiding_!" The young Guardian spoke out, not thinking.

Immediately as he processed what he'd said, he slumped down deeper into his seat, avoiding the elder's eye contact. They all stared at him, shocked by the sudden outburst. He never told any of them that he'd felt that way, then again, when did any of them ever take the time to ask. Teenagers don't just tell you their feelings unless they really aren't thinking.

"Jack-" Tooth started. "If you felt that way than why didn't you-"

"-I wasn't starting a pity party for myself! I was simply trying to explain that she, for some reason, might be avoiding everyone. The kid might just be antisocial." The quick dismiss was enough to tell everyone that it was not a relevant conversation and North stepped in, turning everyone's attention to the situation at hand.

"Alright…any idea how to find girl?" North asked.

The Guardians exchanged glances, hoping to see that they weren't the only ones who had absolutely no clue how they were going to find her. Sanderson formed a light bulb and began to sign. 'What if we followed my dream sand? It travels to everyone naturally and I always get a sense that tells me who the dream belongs to'

"Perfect!" North exclaimed, going to prepare cookies for when they found her. If Sandy searched through his dreams tonight, then they would see her by morning.

They all smiled at this seemingly flawless plan and went on their way, agreeing to come back in the morning to see her. Sanderson left to go spread dreams and locate the girl. He felt a deep obligation to apologize to her for them leaving her so long and after that…he was going to apologize to Jack. It was perfect, he would find her by morning light with sweet and happy dreams above her head or… _at least he thought he would_.

Night fell and the child gazed up into the air from her shadowy corner, her long messy black hair gently being blown in front of her face by the wind. Eyes like coal watched as the sky filled with golden streaks, twisting and turning to find their owners. Dreams were always such delicate things, not that she would ever no what one felt like. Though she only took the form of a poor, dirty, and homeless six year old girl, she had decades upon centuries of wisdom hidden beneath her small thin frame.

The one thing that was lost, was her past. Who she was, if anyone. It was a mystery that she gave up on long ago. No one would ever care anyway; why should they?

The moon, the only light she was ever able to gaze upon for extended periods of time, was slowly climbing into the sky, gracing her pale face with moonlight. It was, apart from the darkness, her only friend and her only comfort. It never talked to her aloud but when she was truly alone and unheard, she would have half of a conversation with it, as if it really were answering her.

A simple dirty and tattered white dress covered her like a blanket, barely hanging on by one of her shoulders. It ruffled against her skin in the gentle breeze, almost as if it thought that one touch might shatter her.

As she walked, barefoot, through the harsh dark forest, she heard a small noise. It was a distressful kind of sound, almost making her want to curl up and cry for the poor creature which was in such pain but, after thousands of years, crying became like a pointless exercise for the weak and lonely. Instead, she followed the painful cries and howls echoing through the forest.

Coming closer to a large trunk in the middle of a ring of trees, a small grayish silver creature was laying, whimpering as it's life was slowly abandoning it. A crimson red liquid was slowly flowing and seeping into the white snow as well as staining the small creature's fluffy fur.

She walked up to it silently so as not to scare it but as soon as the small bunny laid eyes on her, it whimpered in fear, unable to move and escape. The girl knelt down to it softly, removing the rope that was cutting into the poor animal and lifted it into her arms, not caring that some of it's blood was running onto her dress. She cradled it close, gently stroking it's ears back and the little bunny, though still terrified, cuddled into her arms for some comfort in it's final breaths. The suffering was clouding around her as she smiled down at the creature.

"Do you want to be my friend?" She asked in a whisper.

It weakly moved it's head up to meet her dark eyes, a glint a terror mixed with the dark hope of being saved from death's cold clutches.

Her eyes grew completely black as she hugged it closer, black smoke beginning to flow from her fingers onto the bunny as she stroked it. The creature's eyes turned a milky gold as it gazed up at it's new friend's smiling form. The once gray fur was bleeding a shadowy black and the bunny snuggled into the embrace of darkness surrounding it.

After a moment, the smoky bunny jumped out of her arms, hopping through the air around her, as if it had never been hurt in the first place but it was different now. The eyes that used to rapidly glance around at every sound, were now focused and ready to chase away anything that threatened it's child, making it more predator like. Several other similar creatures came up, inspecting their new friend.

The girl gazed down at the snare and tore it to pieces to ensure it couldn't be used again and gazed back to the moon. It probably didn't approve of her friends but it never said anything about it.

It was then that she stood up, turning to come face to face with a golden streak slithering its way towards her. She moved out of the way to let it go to whoever it was connected to but when she did, it turned, heading towards her again.

She backed away with fear as it came closer and tripped over the root of the tree behind her. The golden substance lightly settled on her skin and she let out a blood curdling scream as it burned her. The Nightmares, immediately sensing their child's distress, rushed over, dissolving the dream sand into black dust.

Tears flowed down the girl's face as she inspected the burn on her arm. It was in her very nature to repel light but when certain kinds of light that she could not stop came, they burned her. A horrifying realization struck her; the only way dream sand would come to her is if Sanderson had willed it to, which meant he _knew_ about her. She quickly got to her feet and started disappearing into the shadows to stay as hidden as possible, knowing that Sanderson would have been close enough to hear her scream and come to investigate.

She waited there, breath slowing to remain as silent as possible, and waited. Why was he trying to give a good dream anyway? Was he being sent to finally kill her?! The thought nearly brought tears to her eyes…. _nearly_.

A glowing light began to move through the darkness and she manipulated the shadows so that she would stay out of sight and sure enough, the friendly little golden man that most spirits loved and knew came floating through the forest with a concerned expression that should have made it quite clear that he'd never meant to harm her. He looked down and leaned to pick something up. Her breath hitched in the back of her throat; it was a piece of her dress that had ripped of onto the root of the tree that was sticking up out of the ground. He inspected it carefully, not quite sure yet what it was. One of the leaves cracked beneath her feet and much to her dismay, Sandman had heard it. He stepped forward towards her, extending his hand to the darkness.

Her fear of being discovered was beginning to stir the dark creatures around her, enough so that one of the Nightmare wolves leaped out of the darkness, growling at Sandy. He jumped back, obviously not ready for it, and extended his whips, expecting the light inside him to scare the creature off like it did most Nightmares but instead, the creature only snarled more in warning.

It jumped to the other side of the clearing, into the trees, and Sandy followed it. The girl let out a sigh of relief and turned to run in the opposite direction. This had never happened before; she'd always been left alone. Why would they come looking for her now? She abruptly stopped, eyes widening in terror. Were they going to do to her the same that they did to Pitch?! The child breathed heavily at the thought, true or not, that dwelled in her mind. They were going to kill her.


End file.
